Tactical voting due to our out-dated, un-democratic electoral system is, I and many others believe, what caused such a low Lib Dem vote in this election. I do not believe that people answering opinion polls lied, just that when they came to cast their votes the unfair cries of “A VOTE FOR THE LIB DEMS IS A VOTE FOR [insert opposition party here]” used by both parties affected their decision.

It is neither democratic nor fundamentally the right thing that a party who may have gained a slight majority of seats, but who only gained 36% of the vote should have governmental control of 100% of this country’s population. Honestly, I felt quite betrayed when the BBC reported Nick Clegg’s statement that we should back a Tory government because “they got the majority of votes”.

At 21 I have had the opportunity to cast my vote for the Liberal Democrats once in local elections, and now once in parliamentary elections. I vote for the Lib Dems, partly because their beliefs mostly align with my own, but also because I have always felt like the Lib Dems cared about people more than power unlike Labour or the Conservatives. The Lib Dem MPs that I have met and read about believe in personal and civil liberties whether or not it made them unpopular. They stood for the right thing, not the easy thing.

This is what they – you – and the country as a whole have the chance to do now. Stand up for a move to proportional representation. It may not be easy, and you can almost be assured that there will be a vocal and possibly violent movement against it, but since when have we been accustomed to listening to the tactics of bullies who think that because they can shout louder or hit harder that they are in some way more important?

I feel that yesterday’s vote ought to be voided because the archaic system that we use to “check in” voters, as well as complacency over supplies of ballot papers, and any number of other issues, caused people who were registered, interested, and wanting to cast their vote to be turned away. That is not a democracy. Where are those people’s voices in this parliament?

This is what we as a nation must stand up against. This slide into complacency, just shrugging our shoulders and deciding not to do the right thing because it might upset someone, because someone might shout at us, because it might not work out right and then we will have to deal with the consequences.

Whether we move to a better electoral system or not, there will be consequences. Already we are seeing the consequences of continuing with the first-past-the-post system: angry would-be voters, and a hung government.

There may be resistance at first to a change, but there always is until people get used to it.

Stand up, and be the voice of the people who voted for you. Be the voice of the people who were turned away from the polls. Be the voice of the next generation of British adults, your children and grandchildren, who will be the first British generation to experience what will hopefully be a lifetime of true democracy.